I'm not sure if this is the reaction I'm supposed to have

[conuly]

or, for that matter, if anybody else shares this feeling... but I'm getting a little irked at how dismissive the writers are of Rygel, of all people.

I get that his shipmates barely tolerate him and are wholly unsympathetic. They've all suffered, he's not special, and actually dealing with him every day must be very frustrating, even if he hasn't sold them out yet this episode. That's fair. But... they can feel that way, which is a valid personal choice AND a valid writing choice, without the show telling us that their perspective is the best and most accurate one at all times.

I don't even like the character, I just am not overthrilled with the writing around him. Everybody's written more sympathetically, even the villains.

Comments

[sabotabby]

Oh God yes.

There's a lot that holds up about Farscape, especially compared to Certain Other Found Families On the Run From an Evil Empire Sci-Fi Shows, but there's also some deeply fucked up shit.

[conuly]

It's the food hoarding that gets to me. Again and again it's a joke, a petty annoyance, an indication that he's wholly self-serving and ruthlessly selfish. I'm sure he'd say, and probably does say, that it's simply pragmatic to put aside food.

But... the dude was tortured for a very long time, and probably went hungry then as now. He hoards food. He clings to items, and grabs things. He does it even when a ruthlessly pragmatic individual would see that it will make his situation worse in the short and long runs. Obviously there's no therapy in space, but....

Edit: And they must've known the character they were writing as they wrote him! But they don't follow through.

[sabotabby]

Yes. It basically reflects badly on all of the characters. Who, yes, are not paragons of empathy, Zhaan and Stark aside, but that should have been an arc.

[conuly]

I mean, they all got over Aeryn being a Peacekeeper, and then over her shooting the previous Pilot. (Edit: And if you're not trying to get in her pants, she's also got to be hard to live with. I mean, seriously.) They're all apparently able to hold a civil conversation with Crais. But Rygel? Nah.

I'm only just in season 3 now, Zhaan just died, but I think it's telling that despite the fact that Rygel and Chiana get along pretty darn well and share many of the same self-destructive habits, she's allowed some sympathy and Rygel never ever.

(And Rygel being so excited that Pilot likes him - clearly a lie - is treated like a joke. It's the writers I could shake. The characters have their reasons, but I'm sure the writers don't.)

[conuly]

Also, did you mean Firefly or is there another one?

[sabotabby]

I meant Firefly.

I have this friend who keeps trying to fix shitty media (we met through the Dystopia Rising LARP, which has some horrific racist stereotypes, including those of his own ethnicity), and right now we're in a groupchat and he's trying to fix Firefly. And I'm like 1) the show you're looking for is The Expanse, and 2) Firefly's two pillars are Orientalism and Confederacy mythology. I get what you're trying to do but the horribleness is baked in pretty solidly there.

[conuly]

2. Everybody speaks Chinese, but there are no Asian people at all.

1. What do you think about Killjoys? I watched the first season and it's on my list to finish up.

[sabotabby]

I never watched it. It sounded appealing, though.

[dark_phoenix54]

I saw a year or so of that show; I had the feeling that Rygel was some sort of comic relief, which I thought didn't fit with the show's general feel. What station are you watching on, or do you have a DVD?

[conuly]

I figured we ought to use our Amazon Prime subscription for something other than ordering books on the cheap.

Edit: To answer your comment about Rygel, yeah, he's comic relief. Which is fine and dandy, except they could all take turns having the character development ball.

[heron61]

*nods* I had great sympathy for Rygel, he and Chiana were always my 2 favorite characters